Ghana’s Plastic Problem: Why Only 5% of 1.1 Million Tons Is Collected for Recycling

According to the Ghana Voluntary National Review (VNR) 2025, every year, Ghana creates around 1.1 million tons of plastic waste. As seen in our infographic, only 5% of this waste is collected for recycling.  It is important to note that this 5% represents only the collection rate, meaning even this small fraction is not guaranteed to be successfully processed into new products. This means the actual recycling rate might be lower.

So, why is the potential for recycling capped at such a low rate? The biggest challenge isn't just about needing more recycling plants. The core problem is a broken system, the entire process, from collecting trash to cleaning it, which is the "supply chain" for recyclers.

Let's look at the four main barriers stopping Ghana from turning 95% of its waste into an economic win.

Barrier 1: Bad Collection and Missing Infrastructure

The first step fails because it's hard to get the plastic from homes and markets to a dedicated place for sorting.

• Mixed-Waste Focus: The system is set up to take all garbage (food, paper, and plastic) straight to a dump or landfill. It's not designed to keep plastics separate for recycling.

• The City vs. Village Problem: Big cities often have better collection, but rural areas and informal settlements often lack regular trash services because of poor roads. This forces people to dump waste unsafely, making the plastic impossible to recover for recycling.

• No Separate Bins: Many neighborhoods don't have separate bins or facilities, making it difficult for residents and businesses to easily sort their plastic from other trash at home.

Barrier 2: High Contamination and Low Quality

Recycling factories need clean plastic to process. The common habit of mixing all trash together makes plastic dirty and often too expensive to use.

• The Cleaning Cost: Plastic contaminated with food (like water sachets or takeout containers) is either useless for modern recycling or requires intense, expensive cleaning.

• Need for Awareness: People don't often separate trash at home. Without good education, clean, useful plastic gets mixed with food waste, lowering its quality and making it too expensive to recycle.

• Empty Factories: Because of this contamination, recyclers face feedstock scarcity: they can't get enough reliable, clean plastic to operate efficiently, which severely limits how much they can process.

Barrier 3: The Broken Business Model

The way recycling makes money struggles to compete with the cheaper, older way of managing waste.

• Cheap New Plastic: Recycled plastic often costs more to produce than virgin (new) plastic, which discourages manufacturers from buying the recycled material.

• High Operating Costs: Costs rise quickly due to the manual labor needed to collect and sort dirty plastic, combined with high energy prices for running the recycling machinery. This makes the recycled product expensive.

• Lack of Funds: There isn't enough investment from the private sector or the government to build large-scale, modern facilities that use efficient sorting technology.

  
  

Barrier 4: Policy Gaps and Weak Enforcement

Ghana has created ambitious policies, but there are weak links when it comes to putting those plans into action at the local level.

• Slow Action from MMDAs: National laws on waste and the environment are often not strictly enforced by local governments (Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies - MMDAs). This lack of follow-through allows illegal dumping and the mixing of trash to continue.

• Slow EPR Adoption: Schemes like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which make plastic producers pay for the management of their products after consumers are done with them, have been slow to fully launch and scale nationwide.

• Circular Economy Commitment: Ghana is working on a circular economy (designing waste out of the system), driven by initiatives like the Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP). However, the impact of these strategies is still growing as the country tackles these basic collection and quality problems.

The Way Forward: Fixing the System

Solving the 95% waste crisis isn't just about building factories; it's about repairing the plastic's "chain of custody." This path requires action from everyone:

• Empower Local Government: Strengthen MMDAs to enforce trash sorting laws and invest in local sorting centers.

• Fund the Solution: Speed up the full launch of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes to send private money directly into the collection and sorting infrastructure.

• The Public's Power: Run major education campaigns to push citizens toward sorting trash at home, creating the necessary supply of clean, high-quality plastic that recyclers need.

By overcoming these four linked barriers, Ghana can quickly move away from a wasteful "take-make-dispose" economy toward a sustainable, circular system, securing a healthier, cleaner future.

Source: Ghana Voluntary National Review (VNR) Report on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2025)